120 Whither Kashmir? (Part II) - Islamabad Policy Research Institute

2 IPRI Factfile
share of assets to it, and Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, while
explaining his Two Nation Theory, proclaiming that he regarded Hindus
as a great nation and their religion being equally great, and that his only
contention was that the Muslims and Hindus were different and could
not then be united under one political system. Jinnah was not communal
or racist in his outlook, a fact that is now being increasingly realised in
India.
Politicians like L K Advani and Jaswant Singh and historians like H
M Seervai and Dr Ajeet Jawed are discovering Jinnah as a non-communal
and secular leader. If this is so, one may question why the partition
entailed so much of bloodshed, riots and human misery? In fact, as the
dust of emotions is settling down, it is increasingly becoming easier for
the historians to have a better and more objective view of the past.
Therefore, it is being realised that many of the problems which were
believed to be the result of partition, such as the riots of partition,
uprooting of twelve million people, the dispute over assets, the
differences on the ownership of water resources, the issue of Rann of
Katch, and problems in accession of the states, were, in fact, issues which
should have been addressed as part of the partition package. It was the
failure of the British colonial administration that it could not manage the
process of partitioning the subcontinent amicably. Maulana Abul Kalam
Azad holds that he had already briefed Mountbatten on the possibility of
violent incidents but the latter claimed that being a soldier he would not
hesitate in using the military and air force and would use tanks and
airplanes to crush the riots if they erupted. His were just hollow
statements.
Though in the past six decades, some of the problems
accompanying partition were partially or fully resolved by India and
Pakistan bilaterally, the arbitration also proved helpful in some cases. For
instance, the issue of river water was resolved through the World Bank
assistance resulting in the Indus Basin Water Treaty, which was not ideal
from the point of view of the either party. Yet it was accepted, as no
other mutually agreed solution was possible. Likewise, the Rann of Katch
issue was resolved in 1969 through the mediation of Britain. However,
the Kashmir issue has remained unresolved. Pakistan and India fought
two wars in 1947-48 and 1965 directly over Kashmir. Though the 1971
war was fought due to the East Pakistan crisis, Kashmir was a crucial
element in it and the subsequent Simla Agreement had implications for
Kashmir. The 62 years saw the rise of nuclear ambitions in India and